Episode #131: Mike Candrea on Recruiting

🎙️ Mike Candrea on Evaluating Talent, Building Championship Rosters, and the Future of Recruiting

In this episode of the Significant Recruiting Podcast, Matt sits down with one of the most respected leaders in the history of college athletics—Mike Candrea, Hall of Fame coach, eight-time NCAA National Champion at the University of Arizona, former USA Olympic Head Coach, and one of the sharpest minds in the world of athlete evaluation.

Coach Candrea breaks down what truly matters in the recruiting process: character, competitiveness, consistency, and the ability to fit into a championship culture. He shares how his approach to scouting evolved over 34 years, what he believes separates great recruits from good ones, how NIL and the transfer portal are reshaping college sports, and why self-awareness and maturity matter now more than ever.

Whether you’re a parent, a high school athlete, or a coach trying to help young people find the right college home, this conversation delivers clarity, wisdom, and a blueprint for navigating today’s recruiting landscape.

Learn more about Coach Candrea here:
 https://arizonawildcats.com/sports/softball/roster/coaches/mike-candrea/5249

Explore more recruiting tools and resources—including Significant Recruiting and the brand-new Softball Recruit’s Journal—at CoachMattRogers.com.

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Episode Transcript

(00:09):
Welcome back to The SignificantCoaching Podcast.
This is our recruiting segment.
I'm your host Matt Rogers inpart two of our conversation.
Today's guest is someone whoseperspective on recruiting is
unmatched in the history ofcollege athletics.
Mike Andreas spent 34 yearsbuilding the gold standard of
softball at the University ofArizona.

(00:31):
Eight NCAA nationalchampionships, more than 1800
career wins, and the resume thatputs him in the same rarefied
air as John Wooden.
But what makes this conversationspecial isn't just his success.
It's the way he talks aboutevaluating athletes, building
rosters, identifying character,and understanding what truly

(00:51):
separates a recruit who thrivesfrom a recruit who struggles.
Coach Kendra has seen theevolution of college recruiting
from every angle, USA softballof the Olympics, the early
scholarship era, and now NIL andthe transfer portal.
If you're a parent, a coach, ora student athlete, trying to
understand what elite programsreally look for and why it won't

(01:13):
take long to see why CoachKendra is one of the most
respected leaders in all ofsport.
Let's get into this conversationwith one of the true coaching
legends in all Sports Hall ofFamer, Mike Condre.
Coach, I am really interested ifI'm a parent of a teenager and

(01:35):
Mike Kre walks into my livingroom, who's just won the Olympic
gold medal and has all thesenational championships, what are
you expecting when you walk intothat room?
Never really thought of it thatway.
But obviously you want, you wanta positive reaction.
You want them to be excited,about the opportunity that

(01:57):
you're about to bring to them.
But more importantly, the, myhome visits were really more
about.
Finding out where the kid'scoming from, right?
The influence that parents haveon kids is tremendous.
And so the only way you're gonnafind out what are the priorities
of the parents, it's hard toteach, hard to tell a kid that

(02:18):
you're giving them aneducational experience.
If education is not a highpriority for the parents.
So sometimes you're gonna learna lot about the upbringing of
the kid, and more importantly, Iwanted to see how the kid
treated their parents.
Because if the kid did not treattheir parents well, they're not
gonna treat their teammateswell.

(02:39):
So I would I mean there was manytimes I walked into a home
visit, kid had high skills.
My biggest challenge was findingout about their character, and I
walked outta the house and said,I don't want this kid, it's just
not gonna be a good fit, right?
Because I want kids that aregonna add to my program and are
gonna make other people better.
And that, that was a big partfor me is going into the house

(03:02):
and feeling.
Where's this kid really comingfrom and is it the parents doing
all the talking?
Or is it the kid that I'mrecruiting, asking the
questions?
And yes, is the kid playing thegame because their parents want
him to play the game and becausethey've invested in the kid?
Or does the kid really enjoyplaying the game of soft?

(03:24):
All right.
You and I could write a book onthis next question.
I'd be your ghost writer, butyeah, I, this is what is really
interesting to me.
How do you know what you'reseeing and hearing is authentic?
I know after all these years,you're listening, you're gut and
you've got, yeah, a radar.
But were you ever worried thatwhat you were getting from that

(03:45):
kid in that family wasn't,maybe, wasn't authentic?
Was a bill of sales versus,being authentic.
Yeah.
O obviously off being authenticis important.
And I think sometimes, I don'tknow, the more you do it, the
more you get a feel on whatpeople are like.
I think if there's one thingthat, that I think I was good at
was understanding people.

(04:05):
'cause I always wanted tosurround myself with great
people.
And so you, you could can, youcould, most of the time you
could pick out the fakes, mostof the time I could pick out the
parent and the kid that had thevisit scripted.
Versus it just coming from theheart.
This is what we're gonna talkabout, this how we're gonna act.
Yeah.
I don't know.
It's just, it's a feel that youget when you walk in and it was

(04:28):
either, you know what.
This is a really wholesomefamily that, number one has
enjoyed watching her kids grow.
Yeah.
Is there to support the kid andnot live their life through the
kid.
I think that's one of the thingsI looked at, is this a
frustrated dad that, that maybedidn't make it to college, that

(04:51):
is gonna live their life throughtheir kid.
Or is this a dad that's justreally happy about their kid
having the skills to be able tocompete at the division one
level and is looking forward towatching them play?
That's right.
Not coaching them, but watchingthem.
Yes.
Because that's the other thing Ilook at is can do, I have a kid
here that the dad's gonna try tocoach from the stands'cause that

(05:14):
ain't gonna work.
Do they have enough confidencein me that I can help their kid
grow and get better?
Right without them.
Those little things are prettyimportant.
There's something about a parentwho you can just tell.
They're grateful that someoneappreciates their child the way
they see them.
The good qualities not just'cause they can swing a bat or

(05:36):
throw a ball.
But they see the teamwork, theysee the character, they see the
love of the teammates.
There there's really, there'ssomething special about that
when you're talking with aparent and they're just grateful
that you see their kid as arespectful kid.
Absolutely.
I always told the parents, Isaid, I can't guarantee your
kid's gonna win a nationalchampionship, but I will
guarantee that I will treat themlike my daughter.

(05:56):
And so family is a big part forme.
Does this kid, is this a kidthat I want my family?
Yeah.
Is this a kid that I would bringhome and let them babysit my
kids?
Yeah.
Is this a kid that I want to beat their wedding when they
graduate?
You know what I mean?
We want high character kids.
We want, and I wouldn't even bethere if they didn't have the

(06:17):
skills.
That's right.
So the skills are irrelevant ifwe're talking to you, we already
know you can play.
Absolutely.
I just wanna know if you can fitinto this culture and you can
make our culture better.
That's right.
Because I always say there'sfour types of kids.
There's kids that add to yourculture, kids that subtract from
your culture.
Kids that divide your culture.

(06:38):
Yeah.
And then kids that multiply yourculture.
That's right.
Kids that make other peoplebetter.
Absolutely.
And when you're at your leveland you've had your success, I
think families need tounderstand when a coach that's
been winning is coming into yourhouse or is calling you, calling
your kid, they, they value theculture.
They have so much.

(07:00):
They don't, they're not gonnatake any chances.
You're gonna walk away from ared flag that you think is more
than a red flag.
I always say, people are yourgreatest assets.
Yeah.
And people are your greatestliability.
Isn't that the truth?
You get the wrong person, itbecomes a liability and it can
ruin you.
So to me, it was about highcharacter kids.

(07:22):
It was about kids that were highenergy, high output.
And the third thing was lowdrama.
That's right.
I didn't wanna deal with drama.
It's part three Cs.
Yep.
How much do your, the coachesthat U of A use you as a
resource today?
Caitlyn is a kid that co that Icoach, so I understand, but is

(07:44):
she is she worried about that?
Is, no, I handpicked her to takeover the program, so she knows
that I have a tremendous amountof confidence in her, so I have
done the opposite.
I've backed away from, I'm theirsupport administrator.
But I'm I don't want them tofeel like I'm looking over their
shoulder and I'm there for themif they need me.
So I'm, there's been many timesthat, especially in recruiting,

(08:05):
that they will want me to comeand visit the, with the parents
Of course.
Which I think is a, which isgreat.
Yes.
We talk a lot.
I have weekly meetings withthem, but it's.
I want to be the guy in thebackground that's supporting and
helping these coaches besuccessful.
And if, do we talk a lot aboutX's and O's?

(08:27):
No.
No.
They're in a different worldright now with the analytics.
Yeah.
Truthfully, it's amazing whatthey, it's wild.
It's very wild.
It's wild.
The detail that they haveAbsolutely.
For every pitch, for everyinning, for every player on
their team and the other team.
Yeah.
It's so much to absorb.
You almost need two assistantcoaches that's all their job is.

(08:49):
Yeah.
I told'em I'm not smart enoughto coach at this stage right now
with what you guys are using.
You have a lot of tools, but atthe end of the day, it's still
about a gut feeling.
Yeah.
In the game.
You have to understand that,that you can take all this
information, but at the end ofthe day, when you make a
decision it's gotta be what youfeel is the best because that's
how I coach I, I coached on mygut feeling.

(09:11):
And I think even in major leaguebaseball, there's people that
are being challenged right nowbecause either they're making
decisions based completely onthe analytics.
Yeah.
Or are they using the humanapproach to say, this is what I
feel in this moment.
Yeah.
Pretty evident in this slashWorld series too.
Yeah, absolutely.

(09:31):
You could see the gut and wherethe analytics were at play.
Yep.
What, when Dave got outta thatgroup, those last, forget about
the$300 million payroll, what hedid in those last four innings.
Yep.
Pretty remarkable with theresponse.
Remarkable.
Lot of luck there.
But yeah.
Yeah.
I would say they were prettydamn lucky.
And Toronto had numerousopportunities to win that thing.

(09:52):
Sure.
What was that?
A half an inch, a half amillimeter at the plate.
Exactly.
Oh, that's a game.
It's a game of inches.
But I asked you about Caitlynand the staff there.
'cause I'm wondering'cause somuch of your career recruiting
was relational and very littletransactional I would imagine.
Now I'm guessing it's a lot more50 50 than it used to be.

(10:13):
How are they dealing with that?
That's a good question.
Good question for them.
I think I think they're stilltrying to it's all about finding
needs.
Yeah.
And then it's all about can Ifind my needs by signing a high
school kid, or do I save themoney and wait for the portal?
See that's the difference is Inever had the portal to, to fall

(10:35):
back on.
And I think the people that aresuccessful right now are using a
combination of the two.
And so it, it is a littledifferent.
The whole approach is completelydifferent.
Mine was about buildingrelationships.
I'd start watching a kid whenthey were in seventh, eighth
grade, ninth grade, 10th grade,and I remember the days when we

(10:55):
used to.
Colorado tournament would endand there would be a line full
of coaches waiting to talk tothis kid.
That was the first opportunityyou had.
Yeah.
Now it's completely different.
I think I was at NCSA.
And I think you called, I don'tknow who you were talking to,
you called into one of ourcollege softball coaches, and I
think you were the one thatsaid, I can't believe I'm doing

(11:16):
this.
Yeah.
But we're looking I'm looking atsixth and seventh graders.
Oh, god.
That was frightening.
Wasn't that you?
That was frightening.
Yeah, that was frightening.
Yeah.
I'll never forget, man, theywould call my house to talk and
I'm going, what in the hell am Igonna talk about, man?
I don't even know what they're13 years old.
Yeah, exactly.
And I think we made a lot ofmistakes back then too, because

(11:38):
when you're dealing with afemale athlete, they change, I
remember recruiting some kidsgetting early verbals from a kid
when they were like in eighthgrade.
Fast kid slapper, and then allof a sudden now they start
growing and next thing theycan't run.
That's right.
You right.
So I had to go through thatspurt of decommit some kids,

(11:58):
because they just weren'tprepared to play at this level.
Because they, yeah, they nevergot any better.
Are there some mistakes that youmade early on that really
shaped.
Who you were as a coach, thatyou're like I've got to be
smarter about how I build thisculture.

(12:18):
And it's, even the parents.
Are there things that you madethat you look back down I made a
thousand mistakes, I wish Iwould've done that differently.
Yeah, no I think any coachthat's coaching is going to make
mistakes and it's a matter ofwhether you learn from'em and
you adjust from'em and to me Ialways felt like this was a game
of adjustments.
And so yeah, there there'snumerous times that I put all my

(12:44):
money in a bag saying, this kidis gonna be great.
And they weren't.
And then I realized that therewere kids that were late
bloomers that, that, howcoachable are they?
I think that's the big question.
Yeah.
If a kid's coachable then thesky could be the limit.
But if they're just talented.
You're not coachable, then whatis what you get.
Yeah.
And yeah I've made lots ofmistakes in that regard, but I

(13:07):
knew the character pieceprobably better than anything
because that's the one thing Ididn't want to disturb my
program was a poor character.
And I had made some mistakesthere too.
I used to recruit to the mosttalented kid.
Yeah.
So if you looked at my pyramidwhen I first started coaching,
it was high skill.

(13:28):
I'm gonna go out to the bestsoftball player out there and
hope they have all theintangibles.
And as I got older, it flipped.
The first thing I looked for wascharacter.
Yeah.
It's so hard.
I went through that phase whereI was like, gosh.
I almost convinced my kid that Iconvinced myself that the
character was better than itwas.
Yeah.

(13:48):
Because I wanted the talent somuch.
It's I don't think kidsunderstand this.
We go through that.
We, gosh, I love the way youthrow the ball.
I love the way you play thirdbase.
I love your footwork.
But then I meet you and I'mlike, oh, I didn't like that.
I watched you with yourteammates.
I didn't like that, but man, canyou hit right?
And then I think through yourcareer, you start raising the

(14:10):
bar a little bit to say, youknow what what I thought was a
great player coming outta juniorcollege, I needed to get my eyes
adjusted to see what a greatplayer is gonna look like to win
a national championship.
That's right.
It's a big difference.
And so the more you get intothat championship arena, the
more you can, Yeah.

(14:30):
What it looks like.
Yeah.
And I think that's a big part ofit is you know, you have to know
what it looks like.
Yeah.
We talk to our kids about workethic, what a lot of kids don't
know what work ethic looks like,but if you can give them
examples of done, this is whatwork ethic looks like, then they
start to developing that.

(14:52):
That mindset of that,consistency.
Grit.
Can you, grit is a huge part ofthat grit.
Knowing that can you win todaywith an 80 20 high school
transfer model where you'regonna say, I'm gonna bring high
school kids in.
We're going to keep developing,and then we're gonna bring in a
kid.

(15:13):
One or two every year to helpfill some of the gaps.
Can you win like that anymore?
I don't know.
I think it's I think it's morechallenging right now because
there's, because of theacceptance of transfer if that
makes sense to you.
I think back in my day, thetransfers were only transferring

(15:35):
for a particular reason and theyhad to sit out.
Was there a red flag with atransfer in your eyes that they
were, maybe they were unhappy.
They weren't part of theproblem, right?
Yeah.
They weren't fitting into theculture.
There was times when I wouldencourage a kid to transfer that
they, I don't see a future herefor you.
Yeah.
Today.
I think it's shocking sometimeswhen the portal opens up and you

(15:57):
lose some kids that you feellike you poured your blood,
sweat, and tears into.
Yeah.
And they were successful.
Yeah.
So there's some things you, Idon't think you, you could
control everything today as muchas I knew what was on my plate.
Yeah.
I don't think a coach todayknows exactly what everything

(16:18):
that's on their plate.
It's like you said, outsideinfluences.
It's like you said in the firstsegment, once you went from
junior college, four year, youfell in love with the four year
model because you got to be, yougot to build that relationship.
You know there's nothing betterwhen you've coached a kid for
four years.
Oh, and you're part of thatsenior night and you get to see
them graduate and you knowyou're hugging mom and dad'cause
you know them so well.

(16:40):
It's just a different world nowit's back to that junior college
mentality.
If I get you for two, threeyears we've done something good.
And it's become acceptable.
Yeah.
That's the difference.
It is, and I have I'm stillstruggling with it.
I have to learn to accept it.
I used to say.
In my days, I used to say akid's transferring.
That means that there'ssomething wrong, right?

(17:02):
There's a reason why they'retransferring.
It's gotta be hard to accept asa coach when they're I stayed
away from, I stayed away fromtransfers, right?
I really knew the background onthe kid, but today.
It is like a shopping spree.
Yes.
Here's my needs.
I gotta go look for something inthe transfer portal, and the

(17:23):
only thing that scares me isare, do you have enough time to
do the homework that you need tofind out about the person?
Coach, I appreciate you so much.
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm so thankful.
Can we finish this segment witha piece of advice to those kids
that wanna play college softballout there, or any sport?
Yeah.
What would you tell them abouttheir journey if they're 16

(17:44):
years old and wanna play at thenext level?
Y I think the biggest thing forme is to, to try to develop a
passion for what you're doingand if you have the passion and
you work hard and you understandthat it's not a perfect game,
okay?
You're, you don't have to beperfect to be good, right?
You just have to put in thework.
You have to make sure that youhave to dedicate your, the time

(18:06):
and the effort to perfect yourskills, to perfect your mindset,
and then at the end of the day,to be the greatest teammate that
you can be.
And if you can do that, then Ithink you can be successful.
But you, it's, you gottaunderstand that it's hard.
If anyone tells you it's nothard, they're crazy.

(18:26):
It is hard to play at thislevel.
So make sure you learn how to dohard better than others, right?
Yep.
Make sure you understand thatthere's gonna be challenges,
there's gonna be roadblocks, butyou know what?
You can get through'em.
And you just need, you need tobelieve in yourself.
You need to work hard, you needto work smart.
You need to you need to staypositive.

(18:49):
I think at the end of the day,man, if you can fail forward and
stay positive, then who knowswhat can happen.
And at the end of the day,control the controllable.
Yeah.
You know what, can you controlyour attitude, your effort, your
focus?
I always tell kids, if you cancontrol your attitude, your
effort, and your focus everyday.
And get 1% better.
That's all I can ask.

(19:10):
And your kids bought into that?
Yep.
Nobody else.
Same advice for parents who'vegot a 16-year-old going through
this.
What would you tell them?
I'd tell, I, I would tellparents, number one is forget
about wins and losses until yourkid gets old enough to
understand that.

(19:30):
So early on, try to developtheir skills, develop their
appreciation for the game,develop their passion, and have
fun.
At the end of the day, theybetter have fun doing what
they're doing.
That's right.
Because if they don't have fun,they're not gonna do it.
So you gotta make it fun.
You gotta make it real.
But at the end of the day it'sabout development, it's about

(19:52):
the process.
And don't be surprised if yourkid walks up to you one day and
goes, dad, I'm done.
I've had enough of this.
I had that happen with mydaughter.
She got eighth grade, said I'vehad enough.
What, whatever you do, just, yousupport them, guide them and
stay positive.
And the other thing I'll sayabout parents.

(20:13):
When you go watch their game, bea spectator, and when they get
in the car, be kind to them.
Enjoy the moment, okay?
Because it goes very quickly.
I'll tell you what it seemedlike yesterday when I first
started coaching, and it's over.

(20:33):
Yeah.
It happens very quickly.
So enjoy it and make sure yourconversations are built around
the wellbeing of your daughterand not what she didn't do in
the game.
Yeah.
Be very kind to them about thatbecause that will keep them from
wanting to play the game.
And so just have fun.
Yeah.
Celebrate the small victories.

(20:55):
From a parent perspective, howmuch weight do you put into the
fun part compared to the workethic and understanding that
time needs to go into this?
If you wanna start, you want,yeah.
You want what's comes from thatglory.
Where does that weight for youbegin and end?
I think when fun, I don't mean.

(21:17):
I guess my definition of fun atthat is that I'm enjoying the
process.
Exactly.
I'm enjoying what I'm doing.
I look forward to going topractice.
That's right.
There you go.
I look forward to going topractice.
I look forward to going togames, and I don't feel like
I'm, I have to do something.
I never played a day in my lifewhere I felt like my parents

(21:39):
told me that I had to go out anddo it.
Yeah.
And I didn't do it for myparents.
My parents didn't watch me playall the time.
It was because I love the game.
Yeah, me too.
I love the Batten Ball game.
And so the more you can get kidsto follow their passion, the
easier that process is gonna be.
I don't love running polls.
But I love doing it with myteam.

(21:59):
I love, yeah, I love thechallenge of doing it, maybe
being in the lead of those whenwe're running poles, yeah,
absolutely.
I think that's where my pointcame from.
I think we talk about, we puttoo much weight into what fun
is.
Yes.
Talk to any great coach, anygreat athlete, any great artist,
any great musician, and they'lltalk to you about the grind and

(22:20):
the failure and the pain.
To do what they loved andbecause they wanted to be great
at it.
Absolutely.
And I think there's a point as aparent where we have to accept
our kid just doesn't have thatlove of the game that we want
him to have.
And that's okay sometimes.
Yep.
And sometimes this game is agame of monotonous repetition.
Yes.
Of fundamental skills.
You have to build yourfoundation.

(22:41):
The foundation in our game thatwe play is fundamentals.
That's, it's being able to playcatch, yeah.
If you can't play catch, youcan't play this game.
That's right.
So it can't always be, that'sgot, somehow they've gotta look
forward to doing that.
Yeah.
They've gotta look forward toaccepting the challenge and
meeting the challenge.

(23:02):
And yeah, we're not talkingabout giggling and smiling and
laughing.
That's not what I'm talkingabout when I'm talking about
fun.
Yeah.
I'm talking about embracing theprocess.
I knew what you were talkingabout, but I know there's a
couple hundred parents out therelistening that didn't, and I
felt like we just needed todefine that, right?
Because I, I think it's soimportant to get there and

(23:23):
understand that completely.
Coach, I know you talked aboutit goes so fast, and I know
you're not in that uniform onthe sideline anymore.
But I'm so thankful to whatyou've given.
Us coaches in the world ofsports.
I'm so thankful that you have somuch more to give.
And it is just, it's an honor totalk to you and I'm thankful

(23:43):
that I got the chance.
I appreciate that.
Yes.
And I still look forward tohaving my foot in the door and
being able to share information.
That's, please do Everythingthat I have, I've stolen from
someone else because I was astudent of the game.
So just be a student of thegame.
And this game's in a great placeright now.
I can't wait for the Olympicteam to get back and bring back

(24:04):
that gold medal that that wewant so badly.
So yeah, the college game is atit at its highest.
We've got some pro softballgoing on.
Yeah, athletes unlimited, doinggreat.
So yeah, the future's bright.
So if I'm a young kid I'm prettyexcited about my opportunities.
Thank you for everything, coach.
You bet.
Take care.

(24:24):
That's a wrap on today'sepisode.
What an incredible opportunityto learn from one of the
greatest to ever evaluate talentand build championship rosters.
Coach cadre's, humility, anddecades of experience remind us
that great recruiting isn't justabout finding players, it's
about finding people who fityour culture and your standards
and your vision, and.

(24:44):
Kids, you just want to bearound.
If today's conversation helpedyou, you can find even more
tools to support [e-mail],
including my book, significantRecruiting and the brand new
softball recruits journalcreated to help athletes stay
focused, stay organized, andconfident throughout the
recruiting process.

(25:05):
Thank you for listening, andthank you for investing in your
growth as a recruit, a parent,or a coach.
Until next time, stay focused onwhat you can control.
Stay humble and keep chasingsignificance.